Independent analysis of the IP communications sector - VoIP, Mobile Broadband, IPTV, Unified Communications, Contact Center, Telepresence/Video, Collaboration, WebRTC, Social Media, etc. Plus, my thoughts on all the other things I enjoy during the rest of the day like the Red Sox and great music. And more recently, Smart Grid too!

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Cisco's Toronto Innovation Centre Opening Event

I spent yesterday morning attending this launch event at Cisco Canada's shiny new HO, which also includes an Innovation Centre. They've been ramping up for this for some time, and it's a great showcase of a public/private partnership between Cisco and various tiers of government.

The new offices are really a side story to the Innovation Centre, which is just one of nine globally run by Cisco. As you can imagine, the idea is to nuture innovation, entrepreneurship and tranformative ideas into great products/services that create jobs and help drive the digital economy.

We had His Worship, Mayor John Tory in our midst, along with other government representatives, all helping Cisco execs do the official ribbon cutting to celebrate the launch. Of course, the ribbon was digital, so no scissors were actually needed, but it went off smoothly and the spirit was great.

There are lots of angles here related to collaboration, and as usual, Cisco did a great job showcasing how their technology will help innovators communicate, share ideas and seamlessly work as virtual teams. Nothing new for the analysts/press in attendance, but I'm a fan of efforts like this that really help businesses understand what's possible with today's technology. In that regard, Cisco is totally on the right track here, and hopefully all the public funding behind this will be money well spent.

We saw a lot of cool stuff, and Cisco made some promising announcements around new initiatives to take a leadership role in supporting tech innovation in Canada. The details are best fleshed out in the press release, but am happy to dialog further if interested.

Normally, I would add photos to a post like this, but in my haste to get downtown in very sloppy weather, I forgot my gadget - doh! You'll just have to believe me that I was there, and yes, I got to meet the Mayor. Of course, there was lots of running commentary and photo-posting on twitter, so to rummage through that, best to check @CiscoCanada and #TOinnovate.

Otherwise, I'll leave you with one flashback so you'll know I really have been there. This was actually my third site tour there, with the first one being about a year ago when they held a hard hat tour to show us how they were building a smart building from the inside out. If you like that sort of thing, you'll enjoy my post and photos here.

JAA is also a CTC member

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About Me

Jon Arnold is Principal of J Arnold & Associates, an independent telecom analyst and marketing strategy consultancy. The consultancy’s primary focus is on improving mind share and market share with thought leadership, market research and go-to-market planning. Core expertise is IP-based communications and disruptive technologies, such as VoIP, mobile broadband, telepresence/video, unified communications, collaboration, contact centers, session border controllers, social media and Web-based applications.
JAA also works with companies for funding, M&A, strategic partnerships, and monetizing patents and intellectual property.Jon serves as an Advisor to several startups, and is a member of the CTCA.